Southwest Airlines announced today the 24 nonprofit organizations across the United States that will be receiving a portion of a $1 million grant program. These organizations are tasked with using the funds to support one of the following programs: K-12 STEM Education (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), building a resilient workforce, and leadership development.

What started in a fifth grade classroom over 15 years ago has since taken to the skies! Southwest Airlines Pilot David Childs found himself looking for a way to inspire kids to have the same love of aviation his father instilled in him at a young age. Little did he know that this passion would eventually come full circle.

Read more to hear how Southwest and Adopt-A-Pilot came to eventually reunite teacher and student years later.

One of the many ways Southwest Airlines shows our Heart is by investing in the future generations and encouraging these up and coming leaders to soar to new heights. In celebration of the International Day of the Girl, Southwest teamed up with GenHERation to invite one young woman to experience a day in the field learning more about the aviation career of her dreams.

A few weeks ago, our family was thrilled to be part of Southwest Airlines visit to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®. We joined a group of Adopt-A-Pilot Ambassadors from across the country as they visited and toured the hospital that is changing the way childhood cancers are researched and treated.

At Southwest Airlines, we’re focused on connecting People and championing community. We have a long history of giving back, which is evident in our dedication to the places where our Customers live and work.

To continue this commitment, we’re excited to share the launch of a $1 million charitable grant program to support innovative nonprofit organizations across the United States. This exciting grant will provide us the opportunity to further invest in the careers and workforces of tomorrow!

For many of the communities Southwest Airlines serves, 2017 was a challenging year. Several places we love were impacted by natural disasters—one of the areas most impacted was Tapachula, Chiapas. People living in this area supply some of the coffee beans utilized by Community Coffee Company, our onboard partner that provides our inflight coffee. At Southwest, disaster preparedness and response is one of the core pillars of our community outreach efforts, and we are honored to play a role as the people of Tapachula rebuild.

The Southwest Heart is about loving people, building resilience, and living responsibly. Whether it’s through a Companywide initiative or on an individual basis, our Employees extend their Hearts in service—they create community wherever they are by volunteering time, talent, and Heart to make a difference.

At Southwest Airlines, we love to inspire future generations to succeed, and one of the many ways we do that is through our Adopt-A-Pilot program. Since 1997, our Pilots have dedicated their own time to help students define, articulate, and plan for future success; all while enjoying fun-filled lessons! But for these father-son duos, this program has become more than fun—it’s become a family legacy.

Oakland based Pilot, Peter Vanpelt, has been inspiring students both locally and abroad for the past five years as an Adopt-A-Pilot Ambassador. Southwest’s Adopt-A-Pilot program allows Pilots to volunteer their time by visiting classrooms and mentoring students through their knowledge of aviation.

At the end of last year, I had the opportunity to help celebrate two very special programs sponsored by Southwest Airlines. In 2017, Southwest Airlines celebrated the 10th anniversary of its Medical Transportation Grant Program and the 20th anniversary of its Adopt-A-Pilot program. Both programs celebrate children and there is no better way to bring these two events together than to create an incredible day for some amazing kids at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®!

It’s amazing what can be accomplished when we open our Hearts, put aside our differences, and come together for a common goal.

On Martin Luther King, Jr. National Day of Service, Southwest Employees, friends, and family did just that when they braved the frigid temperatures and joined together for a whole-community effort to bring positive change to the English Avenue neighborhood in Atlanta.

The Southwest Airlines Heart of the Community program is our commitment to building connections that bring people together and strengthen communities for a more resilient future. Since 2013, Southwest has invested $6.4 million in building connections and supported projects in 21 cities.

Joan Vorderbruggen has a strong vision for her hometown of Minneapolis. She sees the town's potential to act as a haven for the diverse and multi-cultural community members, and with her new position with Hennepin Theatre Trust, she hopes to help her vision come to life with a program called "5 to 10 on Hennepin."

In recent years, the Foro Lindbergh section of Parque México has been recognized as a space that should be defined by community members. Southwest Airlines' Heart of the Community program has helped to support Foro Lindbergh as a community-led public space.

Executive Director of Indy Bike Hub YMCA Karen Ogden acts as a connector for the hub of City Market East Plaza in downtown Indianapolis. She and her team partnered with Southwest's Heart of the Community program to promote growth for this neighborhood.

Notice: Southwest Airlines resumed scheduled flights to/from San Juan (SJU) with a reduced schedule starting today, Thursday, September 28. Seat availability is extremely limited due to high demand. For details on offered flights and availability, please check online or call us at 800-I FLY-SWA (800-435-9792). If you are a Southwest Customer impacted by Hurricane Maria, we are offering flexible accommodations for those Customers holding reservations from San Juan (SJU) from Monday, September 18, through Wednesday, November 1, and want to alter their travel plans. We will operate a humanitarian flight (SJU-MCO) on Friday morning for those who are stranded. Customers wishing to standby for the humanitarian flight on Friday, September 29 should arrive at the airport by 6:00 a.m. local time.

Our thoughts continue to be with the people of Puerto Rico as they recover from this devastating storm. We are hopeful conditions there continue to improve so that we can operate more frequently and continue to increase our role in that recovery.

Once we felt the full impact of Hurricane Harvey, it was apparent no planes would be taking off from Houston Hobby anytime soon. I have never seen so much rain or the lightning and tornadoes that accompanied it. Meanwhile, Southwest had been working around the clock to get us out of Houston. When a brief break in the heavy rain occurred around mid-afternoon on Saturday, Southwest managed to evacuate 500-600 Passengers. Thanks to Southwest it was not the nightmare it could have been.

Greta proved integral to the success of Southwest Airlines’ 2016 Heart of the Community Grant to Philadelphia’s City Hall Courtyard, serving as a visionary from the beginning, an active proponent of the project throughout, and a selector of the final design at the end. Known as a dynamic “connector” in her community, Greta helped bring together the many pieces of the project that led to its final success.

At Southwest Airlines, it’s always been about Heart. It’s about Loving People and putting others first. t’s about Building Resilience through connections that last and being part of a community that helps one another because distance shouldn’t keep us from being neighbors. It’s about Living Responsibly and doing things the Southwest Way, which means we do it because we want to, not because we have to.